Okay, let's face it. Of all of the tools in Illustrator, the Pen Tool is by far the most important to master. Without being able harness the power of the Pen Tool, Illustrator doesn't do a whole lot more than any rudimentary graphics program. The Pen Tool gives you all of the power to create what you want. There is really no way around learning to use the Pen Tool if you plan on creating vector graphics beyond simple boxes or circles.